School shut as swine flu spreads

School’s out: parents and children with a policewoman outside Paignton Community College, which was shut today after a 12-year-old girl tested positive for the pig flu virus

A British school was shut today after a 12-year-old pupil tested positive for the swine flu virus.

The girl was on the same flight from Mexico as Scottish honeymoon couple Iain and Dawn Askham who were confirmed as having the H1N1 strain on Monday.

Anxious parents collected their children from Paignton Community College this afternoon. One said: "The girl that's ill is in Year 7. All the Year 7s were running around like maniacs shouting, Cover your mouths' ."

Health Secretary Alan Johnson said: "The little girl is doing fine." He said the anti-viral drug Tamiflu had been given to 230 pupils in her year. The 1,900-pupil school will be closed for seven days.

The Health Protection Agency in Devon said the girl had been in close contact with 50 pupils and others.

A woman aged 42 from Redditch and a 22-year-old man from Barnet, north London, have also been confirmed as having the disease, bringing the British total to five. Tests are being carried out on 78 people in Britain. Gordon Brown said all those affected had recently been in Mexico where the outbreak began.

Mr Brown said Britain was taking "the preparations that are necessary" to try to prevent the spread of the disease. He told the Commons: "We have decided to build up stocks of anti-virals from 35 million to 50 million. We are ordering a great deal more face masks." Checks at airports are being tightened.

A 23-month-old boy was confirmed today as the first victim to die in the US. The Egyptian government is slaughtering all pigs in an effort to prevent the virus spreading.